{"id":758,"date":"2020-12-20T13:54:43","date_gmt":"2020-12-20T21:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amcling.northernhorizons.net\/?p=758"},"modified":"2021-01-04T16:08:56","modified_gmt":"2021-01-05T00:08:56","slug":"advent-16-mary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amcling.northernhorizons.net\/?p=758","title":{"rendered":"Setting Up the Creche – Mary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written for Advent Worship with the UCC in Wallace, Idaho<\/em><\/p>\n

Mary has taken her place in the creche alongside Joseph and the shepherds. Not to sound too critical, but this set has her looking about as meek and mild as every other set I\u2019ve ever seen. My experience of visiting new mothers has taught me that moments after childbirth is not the preferred time for a photo op, especially not a photo that will get global and eternal circulation. But add to that the grueling journey to Bethlehem, getting stuck in the barn with a feeding trough as a bed for her newborn and stinky old field hands as their first visitors. I don\u2019t know of any 13 or 14 year old girl who would endure all of that and come through looking meek and mild. Your imagination can color in how she\u2019s more likely to look and just what she might be about to say.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve cherished Mary for a very long time; her willingness and ability to open her life so completely to God has impressed me deeply. Her words, here am I, the servant of the Lord, have been a kind of mantra for me. But I admit that open door, unconditional invitation isn\u2019t quite as appealing as it once was. As I age, I\u2019m becoming less eager to have my life disrupted, to say nothing of turned upside down and inside out. Don\u2019t get me wrong: I\u2019m still up for a lot of adventure, maybe even risk, but preferably on my terms and of my choosing. But Y\u2019all come in now and do whatever you think best, let me help in whatever way I can, well, I need to work some more on that one.<\/p>\n

What do you think happened in Mary between her initial question to Gabriel of, how can this be? to her response not long after, when she said, count me in, for nothing will be impossible for God? Her pregnancy as an unwed teenager, especially in a small village where everybody knew everything, put her life at risk. By the time she got to Elizabeth\u2019s door she was singing a song, the Magnificat, about her understanding of what God was up to, it\u2019s words so powerful that it\u2019s been banned in countless places in modern history. Like Argentina: when the mothers of the disappeared plastered the city plaza with the Magnificat\u2019s vision of hope, the ruling junta declared it was too dangerous a thing for public consumption. And when the British ruled India, they didn\u2019t even want it sung in churches. I don\u2019t know who she was before Gabriel visited her, but I know once she said yes to God, there was no stopping her. She was on fire with her love for God and her passion for God\u2019s people. How much of that love am I prepared to let into my life? How ready are we to deliver it into God\u2019s world?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written for Advent Worship with the UCC in Wallace, Idaho Mary has taken her place in the creche alongside Joseph and the shepherds. Not to sound too critical, but this set has her looking about as meek and mild as every other set I\u2019ve ever seen. My experience of visiting new mothers has taught me … <\/p>\n

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